1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to mounting apparatus for mailboxes, and in particular to a multiple mailbox mount having improved safety characteristics when accidentally struck by vehicles.
2. Description of Prior Art
On rural highways mailboxes are often placed close to the edge of the pavement, where the mail carrier and homeowner can reach them from inside a vehicle. Multiple mailboxes are often mounted on a common mount, for convenience and efficiency.
A mailbox mounted near a highway is considered a hazard and is required by law to be designed to do as little damage as possible to a vehicle that hits it. The mounting post must be a break-away design with a base that will not cause a small vehicle to roll over. The top of the mount must be designed so it won't separate from the post and become a missile that could penetrate the windshield of a vehicle during an accident.
Multiple mailbox mounts in the past have usually included at least one vertical post and a horizontal member at the desired level for access to the mailboxes. High-mass materials such as wood or metal are frequently used in such relatively primitive structures. In the event of a vehicle collision with the structure, the horizontal member can be freed from one or more of the vertical posts with inertia sufficient to permit it to intrude into the interior of the vehicle, with obvious hazard to the driver and passengers. There is thus a need for a low-mass multiple mailbox mount that preserves the integrity of the horizontal member to vertical post attachments, with a yieldable vertical post to ground connection, such that the integral structure is impacted away from or under the vehicle and intrusion into the vehicle is made less likely. Ready reconnection of the vertical post to ground connection after impact is also desirable.
One such yieldable, readily-reconnectable, post to ground connection is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,003,919, entitled “Post Mount Assembly,” issued Feb. 28, 2006, to Ronald D. Riker and assigned to the assignee of the present invention, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference as if fully set forth. A superior mailbox to mount connection is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,178,772, entitled “Mailbox Post Bracket,” issued Feb. 20, 2007 to Ronald D. Riker and assigned to the assignee of the present invention, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference as if fully set forth.